Comments on: A Modest Editorial on Game Bugginess http://www.polycat.net/1191/battlefield-2-a-year-later-and-more/ Mon, 15 Feb 2010 10:31:10 -0400 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Mike Rochannel http://www.polycat.net/1191/battlefield-2-a-year-later-and-more/comment-page-1/#comment-136951 Mike Rochannel Fri, 07 Jul 2006 08:28:20 +0000 http://www.polycat.net/1191#comment-136951 Well, first: True comment from my side of 25 yr in Software Development, second: This is true not only for game software, but for every software, including the one that controls your car or your pacemaker. At the moment I do software for cars ... and yes, you would not drive a single mile in it if you could see the way quality is driven by saving every possible penny ... Well, first: True comment from my side of 25 yr in Software Development, second: This is true not only for game software, but for every software, including the one that controls your car or your pacemaker. At the moment I do software for cars … and yes, you would not drive a single mile in it if you could see the way quality is driven by saving every possible penny …

]]> By: Rob http://www.polycat.net/1191/battlefield-2-a-year-later-and-more/comment-page-1/#comment-136597 Rob Wed, 05 Jul 2006 17:34:01 +0000 http://www.polycat.net/1191#comment-136597 Blizzard? I had the Diablo 2 patch in hand before I had the game, and it was preordered. Blizzard? I had the Diablo 2 patch in hand before I had the game, and it was preordered.

]]> By: mittens http://www.polycat.net/1191/battlefield-2-a-year-later-and-more/comment-page-1/#comment-136403 mittens Tue, 04 Jul 2006 21:00:55 +0000 http://www.polycat.net/1191#comment-136403 Awesome comment, <b>Stop Pit</b>. I just thought I'd point that out; I don't really have much to add to it. Awesome comment, Stop Pit. I just thought I’d point that out; I don’t really have much to add to it.

]]> By: Calvin http://www.polycat.net/1191/battlefield-2-a-year-later-and-more/comment-page-1/#comment-136401 Calvin Tue, 04 Jul 2006 18:17:46 +0000 http://www.polycat.net/1191#comment-136401 TLDR, but I'm sure you're right! TLDR, but I’m sure you’re right!

]]> By: Stop Pit http://www.polycat.net/1191/battlefield-2-a-year-later-and-more/comment-page-1/#comment-136231 Stop Pit Mon, 03 Jul 2006 23:57:52 +0000 http://www.polycat.net/1191#comment-136231 It is neither the publisher's or developer's fault. It is entirely the gaming media's fault. A buggy game full of features from a AAA publisher will get hyped up and covered by the media will make money. AAA publishers can pay for ads which also umm... "encourages" coverage. People will then buy this game. A perfectly bug-free game with less feature from an indie will get practically no coverage. Consider the media coverage of not-so-famous indie MMORPG like Laghaim or Face of Mankind. What? You don't know what games these are? Exactly. So why should a publisher, EA, in this case, bother to make BF2 bug-free. That just costs them money. Junior game programmers work for about $50-60k. And you will need Senior game programmers to fix the problems in BF2. That $80k plus. You can do the math and make an estimate of how many man-hours it will take to fix the bugs. Let's say it costs EA something like $100k for the workers and time to do this. That's a conservate estimate, but not so bad. But there is a catch. Where do these programmers... Senior programmers... come from? They are currently working on BF2142. So that means you need to hire new programmers. Senior level ones. Programmers don't like to work for a 3 or 4 month project. They want job security. So you need to hire programmers and have some work for them after they fix BF2, but presumably, before they fix BF2192 bugs. :) In otherwords, that's no go. So you hire contractors willing to work... part-time or short term. Except it is rare to fine contractors with the advanced game programming skills. And since they have no job security, they charge double the price of a normal programmer. Oh it gets better, since they have no idea how BF2 works, it will take a minimum of 1 month to learn the code base and than about twice as long for them to fix anything. Now you $100k price suddenly became $300k. The rule of thumb is using contractors for a "mission critical task" is it will take twice as long and costs twice as much by the hour. Now EA has to ask itself. Does fixing the bugs in BF2 consititute more the $300k in profit. If they get about $10 dollars per box sold, that means they need to sell 3 million more units just to break even. So ask yourself. Will fixing all the bugs mean 3 million extra sell-through. And now you know why people don't bugs. Because it doesn't sell units. The only thing that matters is initial marketing and sales of the game. That is atleast 90% media driven. It is neither the publisher’s or developer’s fault. It is entirely the gaming media’s fault. A buggy game full of features from a AAA publisher will get hyped up and covered by the media will make money. AAA publishers can pay for ads which also umm… “encourages” coverage. People will then buy this game.

A perfectly bug-free game with less feature from an indie will get practically no coverage. Consider the media coverage of not-so-famous indie MMORPG like Laghaim or Face of Mankind. What? You don’t know what games these are? Exactly.

So why should a publisher, EA, in this case, bother to make BF2 bug-free. That just costs them money. Junior game programmers work for about $50-60k. And you will need Senior game programmers to fix the problems in BF2. That $80k plus.

You can do the math and make an estimate of how many man-hours it will take to fix the bugs. Let’s say it costs EA something like $100k for the workers and time to do this. That’s a conservate estimate, but not so bad.

But there is a catch. Where do these programmers… Senior programmers… come from? They are currently working on BF2142. So that means you need to hire new programmers. Senior level ones. Programmers don’t like to work for a 3 or 4 month project. They want job security. So you need to hire programmers and have some work for them after they fix BF2, but presumably, before they fix BF2192 bugs. :)

In otherwords, that’s no go. So you hire contractors willing to work… part-time or short term. Except it is rare to fine contractors with the advanced game programming skills. And since they have no job security, they charge double the price of a normal programmer. Oh it gets better, since they have no idea how BF2 works, it will take a minimum of 1 month to learn the code base and than about twice as long for them to fix anything.

Now you $100k price suddenly became $300k. The rule of thumb is using contractors for a “mission critical task” is it will take twice as long and costs twice as much by the hour.

Now EA has to ask itself. Does fixing the bugs in BF2 consititute more the $300k in profit. If they get about $10 dollars per box sold, that means they need to sell 3 million more units just to break even.

So ask yourself. Will fixing all the bugs mean 3 million extra sell-through. And now you know why people don’t bugs. Because it doesn’t sell units. The only thing that matters is initial marketing and sales of the game. That is atleast 90% media driven.

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